“If you see something, say something.”
It’s a mantra that police officials repeat often to the public about reporting suspicious activity that may have to do with the commission of a crime.
Sometimes “saying” gives way to “acting”, and in one case, a local parent may have interrupted a potential kidnapping—and he’s been honored for his actions.
Timothy Williams has been an Orange County Correctional Officer for 17 years, but on Aug. 18, 2023, he was acting solely as a parent and helped apprehend the suspect in his Poinciana neighborhood.
According to the police reports Williams, who was waiting at the bus stop with his twin 12-year-old boys, observed a man grab an 11-year-old girl and try to pull her from the bus stop at Greenfield Road and Allegheny Road. The girl was able to free herself and the suspect ran away. But Williams followed him and helped a Polk County Sheriff ’s deputy make an arrest – even after the suspect fled from the deputy and Williams had to assist with the foot chase and detainment.
For his efforts, Williams was honored as the 2023-24 Citizen of the Year by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement at a Sept. 9 ceremony in Tallahassee in conjunction with Florida Missing Children’s Day. He was also honored by his Orange County cohorts on Sept. 10 in Orlando.
“Had Officer Williams not bravely and swiftly intervened, an 11-year-old girl would have become the victim of a crime,” said Louis A. Quiñones, Jr., Chief of Orange County Corrections. “We are extremely proud of the manner in which he responded.”
The state award program nominates a citizen whose activity is “Exceptional, extraordinary, outstanding, or heroic, and that activity resulted in the prevention of a child abduction, or the recovery of a child from a situation of imminent danger.”
Williams said he never felt heroic, and that his instincts as a parent kicked in when he saw what was happening.
“At first, I thought the guy was her parent. The girl was on her phone. Then he grabbed her, and she fought him off, and he ran away,” Williams said.
Williams noted he ran down an adjoining street to blend in with others in the neighborhood. When the deputy came to make the arrest, and the suspect, Nelson Perez Jr., attempted to flee, Williams was able to slow him down enough for the deputy to regain control and fully apprehend Perez.
“I didn’t even think about it. I’m a parent, so all I saw was someone’s child being snatched,” he said.
While he said he doesn’t recommend all people getting into a physical confrontation, he does advocate taking appropriate action rather than just standing by.
“You don’t know if they have weapons or such. Everything I did was a result of my training, assessing and acting,” he said. “All this attention feels odd … I’m just a parent. The day everything happened, I just went to work afterward.”
The incident, and Williams’ actions, remind all of us that being a great citizen can involve doing something that’s just common, but important, he said.
“Just do something. Everyone’s child is precious.”
